INFRASTRUCTURE IN MALAYSIA
Malaysia has very modern transportation and telecommunications infrastructures, but their quality and availability vary geographically. It suffers from urban sprawl and traffic congestion in its capital Kuala Lumpur, and a lack of basic services in rural areas. In much of the country, mountainous terrain has limited transportation infrastructure development, and sufficient government funding to overcome such constraints only began to materialize in the 1980s.
Malaysia inherited relatively well-developed, but unevenly distributed, infrastructure and transportation networks from the colonial era. After gaining independence, the Malaysian government invested heavily in expanding its highways, railways, seaports and airports. More recently, the government has played an active role in encouraging the development of modern communication technologies such as satellite communications and the internet. In the late 1990s, it launched a privatisation programme in the transport and communications sector, bringing in private investment and allowing for greater flexibility. This initiative encouraged managers to increase profitability and production efficiency. [Source: Rafis Abazov, Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies, Gale Group Inc., 2002.
Sanitation facility access: improved: urban: 96 percent of population; rural: 95 percent of population; total: 96 percent of population. Unimproved: urban: 4 percent of population; rural: 5 percent of population; total: 4 percent of population (2010 est.). [Source: CIA World Factbook]
Infrastructure Projects in Malaysia
Infrastructure projects have included billion dollar dams, a new capital, a new $3.5 billion airport, huge bridges and 10,000 miles of roads. In the early 2000s, Malaysia launched one of the world's largest land reclamation project to reclaim 79,072 hectare of land from sea off the coast of northern Kedah at a cost of $12 billion. After the Asian economic crisis in 1997-98, the government canceled plans for regional airports and highways.
In the 1990s Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir approved plans for a new $3.6 billion international airport, a new rapid transit system for Kuala Lumpur, improved ports, a $400 sports facility for the 1998 Commonwealth Games, a huge new dam and even a new capital city. Describing what the meaning 452-foot-high Petronas Twin Towers, the highest building in the world for a while, Mahatir told Newsweek; "This represents the level of achievement we have reached. It's not just that you want to do something.
Many Malaysians did not share Mahathir’s vision and believed the money would be better spent on improving Malaysia’s schools, upgrading research facilities, and providing better technical training. In the early 2000s, Mahathir’s successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, put several major infrastructure projects initiated during Mahathir's 22-year rule on hold, among them a new bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore. In late 2003, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi canceled one of Mahathir‘s most cherished pet projects: the $3.8 billion cross-Malaysia railroad project, which was Malaysia’s largest infrastructure program. The contract to build it had been awarded to a Mahathir crony.Other skeptics argued that Malaysia didn't need the ambitious development projects. The Petronas Twin Towers had trouble finding tenants, and many said the new $8 billion administrative capital of Putrajaya (45 miles south of Kuala Lumpur) was unnecessary.The new airport was proposed in 1992 and construction began two years later. This contrasted with the new airport in Bangkok, which was first proposed in 1967 and was still in the planning stages in the 1990s.
See New Capital Putrajaya and Petronas Towers Under Places
$34 Billion Development Project in Terengganu
Some expensive infrastructure projects seemed to be launched more out of political concerns than need, In October 2007, Malaysia kicked off an ambitious bid to transform its ethnic Malay heartland into an agriculture, energy and tourism powerhouse by pouring in US$34 billion by 2020. Reuters reported: “Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched Malaysia's third development corridor as his government tries to position the country for future growth ahead of national elections in 2008. 'We expect to create more than new 560,000 jobs in the corridor over the next 12 years,' Mr Abdullah said. [Source: Reuters, October 29, 2007]
Agriculture and tourism are key focus areas, with nearly half the funds earmarked to strengthen transport links and infrastructure in some of the poorest states, home to nearly 4 million people in Malaysia's north-east. Mr Abdullah was speaking in Kuala Terengganu in Terengganu state, where Islamist have a strong presence.
Neighbouring Kelantan is the last remaining stronghold of the Islamist opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia, which wants to turn the country into an Islamic state that punishes thieves by chopping off their hands. Malaysia will woo foreign investors to participate in the plan, which expects to raise a fifth of the needed US$34 billion from the private sector, another 27 percent from public-private initiatives, and the rest from government, planners have said.
Terengganu is Malaysia's largest crude oil producer, with state energy firm Petronas and Exxon Mobil being the biggest operators in the state. Petronas, charged with chalking out the plan, has said it also intends to invest in the region. 'We will be investing in the oil and gas like we have been doing all this while,' Chief Executive Hassan Marican said last month. Energy services firms are likely to benefit from a slew of potential projects in the so-called East Coast Economic Region. They include Petronas Gas, Dailog Group , KMN Group, Kencana Petroleum, MMC Corp and Muhibbah Engineering. The Ecer Abdullah launched on Monday sprawls over 51 percent of the Malaysian peninsula, through the northeastern states of Kelantan, Terengannu and Pahang to Mersing in southern Johor.
He said the plan would involve upgrading of airports, roads, ports and telecommunications facilities. It will also expand a gas and petrochemical hub and set up a zone for plastic makers. He also announced plans to set up a major international Internet exchange in Terengganu to serve Southeast Asia. Education is also targeted in the plan, while the property sector will get a boost from moves to ease development of land that cannot now be sold to non-Malays. Nearly half the land not owned by the government in the eastern development region is in this category, state news agency Bernama said.
Children Injured and Killed After a Malaysian Bridge Collapses
In October 2009, News Agencies reported: “A suspension bridge in Perak state in northern Malaysia has collapsed, killing at least one child. Another 19 fell into the river but were rescued; two more are missing and a search by rescue services continues. A further 20 who were on the bridge managed to avoid falling into the water by clinging onto the structure. The state news agency Bernama reported that the 50-metre bridge had only been completed two weeks ago, replacing another bridge which had collapsed. The chief Minister of Perak state Zambry Abdul Kadir said the bridge's support beams had fallen late on Monday evening and authorities were investigating whether it had been built to proper specifications. [Source: News Agencies October 27, 2009]
One student, K Mathivanan, aged 12, told Bernama that the bridge at Kuala Dipang, Kampar, suddenly collapsed after some children jumped on it. "Suddenly we were thrown into the river, but I managed to hold on to a rope," the pupil said. "The currents were strong but I pulled my body up." The children were part of a group of nearly 300 from 60 primary schools in Kampar, Tronoh and Batu Gajah in Perak state, who were camping in a village 200km (120 miles) north of the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings; 1993; New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Smithsonian magazine; Encyclopedia.com; National Geographic; Live Science; Malaysia Tourism websites; Malaysia government websites; UNESCO; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Natural History magazine; Times of London; Library of Congress; The Conversation; The New Yorker; Time; BBC; CNN; Reuters; Associated Press; AFP; Lonely Planet Guides; Google AI; Wikipedia; The Guardian and various websites; books and other publications.
Last updated May 2026